Mortal Kombat impressions (ps2)

Well, I really gotta tip my hat to Midway, they have really taken MK from a good fighting game, to crap, to now a really, really solid fighter. The FIghters themselves are modeled ok, the backgrounds look really nice...and for the ps2 version that I played, they did some really nice stuff with both shadows and reflections in some stages. The Animation is a bit stiff, but acceptable.
The gameplay has struck a very interesting balance between defense - which in this case is carefull sidestepping, blocking, and reversing (some characters), to timing your offense with dial-a-combo system. I have no idea yet the potential for combo engine is in terms of creating your own combos, but who knows. While the "fun" is setting up yourself to do the dial-a-combo, the combos themselves are rather unrewarding just because your just putting in a set of memorized commands. The game is still fun however. I like the idea of switching between stances/styles DURING combos, definatly a very, very cool idea and surprising that Midway would really pioneer this. Before MK: Domination, the cop from Tekken was the only character that I knew of that really switched stances/styles...but even that was very limited within a combo.
The sound is decent, pretty much your standard fair for a fighting game. The sweep "whuua!" voice is a riot though.
Loading time: the game loads pretty fast and does a nice job of masking it by providing you graphics to ADD out on.
For 30-40 bucks, definatly a buy for some mindless fun and relaxation between virtua fighter 4 rounds

 

I have the game. Had the gamecube version but they didn't allow me to play my third party controllers. So I got the ps2 version. Both versions are the same as far as features and graphics and controls. It's just hard to play on the standard gamecube controller. So anyways, haven't really played it much since I have been busy. I'll do the more coins trick so I can open up all the coffins and get all the extra characters. So far the AI is annoying as hell. But almost every MK AI sucks ass. Oh well.

 

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I like the idea of switching between stances/styles DURING combos, definatly a very, very cool idea and surprising that Midway would really pioneer this. . .
Tekken was the only character that I knew of that really switched stances/styles...but even that was very limited within a combo.


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Er have you ever seriously tried using LeiFei in VF4, he has plenty of stance switch combos. Moreso than tekken.

 

I think he's talking about Vanessa type of stance changing (pre-Evo that is, I haven't a clue about Evo), and not Lei Fei, or Ling type of stance changing, where doing certain moves bring you into a stance. I'm not a Lei player, so don't bother sueing me if I'm wrong. /versus/images/icons/laugh.gif

Anyway, I think Capcom innovated the idea with Gen in SFA. Gen was able to change between Mantis and Crane in mid combos. Very odd stuff, as one style was charge type (a la Guile), and the other non-charge (a la Ryu).

 

I've not played him seriously...

 

From the footage I've seen, it looks like a decent fighter. I like the idea of multiple stances for each character in MK. One stance even gives you a weapon! This game is definitely one of the best improvements in the series since MK2 (the pinnacle of the series IMO). I'll most certainly give it a try, maybe as a fun, "side" game to VF. /versus/images/icons/smirk.gif

 

I am taking it back. It's not that fun for me. But good news, I have Killer instinct on my pc emulated as well as killer instinct 2. So it's all good.

 

Well technically, according to the manual, lei fei's different stances are seperate forms of martial arts. And im not suing you, but sometimes the only way to get into certain stances is by doing moves /versus/images/icons/tongue.gif

heres a couple of stance switch combos

starting from [EV] stance
sabaki ,, into [DM] stance ++,+, (hold) brings you into [IN] stance,+,+
*note this is one of those anti techroll combos =P

Another is
starting from [IN] stance
,,buffer quick change to [DM] ++, ,+,+

Theres a lot more of these, and if you understand a bit of lei fei and his stances, some of the shinz combo arts he does with him looks wrong, because virtually you see no stance change at all.

 

/versus/images/icons/tongue.gif

No offense but when was it ever a good fighting game?
There once was a juggle system, and special cancels, and the basic combo of stun-with-a-projectile-and-take-your-free-hits. Now it's based on a dial-a-combo system. Every game in the series had infinite combos until they came up with the ugly solution of "as soon as you do about 45% damage the combo ends". There still aren't any wakeup attacks, so you can generally stroll up and nail someone as they get up with a throw. There's a dodge which is supposed to add depth but you can only use it like once every few seconds, and it only works on projectiles. Throws still double as attacks like low punch so there's no throw whiffs.

Ok I'm done bitching. Not like I didn't buy MK2 when it came out and played it to death for all the fatalities and friendships and stuff. I just never could say it was any good as fighting game. It does its job tho, which is to entertain.

 

Actually, there are wake up attacks in the game now...having only played for a few hours, I am not going to comment on the combo system..but I will be dissapointed if it is ONLY dial-a-Combo...MK 1 & 2 were good games, period, though.

 

I returned the game got full credit for it. Wow, me and the Dude played it for an entire 15 minutes saw a few fatalities and turned it off. That was it. I was going to go and get that offroad atv 2 so I could play it online. But how much fun is it to race one other person online? Not that much fun imo.

 

get shinobi

SHINOBI is BACK!